Thin p-type NiO nanosheet modified peanut-shaped monoclinic BiVO for enhanced charge separation and photocatalytic activities

• Published in: Catalysis science & technology 2022-08, Vol.12 (16), p.5162-517
• Main Authors: Peng, Yaru, Cai, Junhao, Shi, Yuxin, Jiang, Haoxiang, Li, Guoqiang
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 2044-4753; 2044-4761
• DOI: 10.1039/d2cy00892k

BiVO 4 (BVO) is an excellent semiconductor material with a suitable band gap for photocatalytic applications. The serious challenge is to solve the problem of electron-hole pair recombination in pure BVO. Herein, we reported the synthesis of NiO nanosheet coated BVO and the NiO/BVO heterojunction improved the photocatalytic activity effectively, while an appropriate precursor Ni(NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O concentration is a key factor for the NiO formation with different morphologies. The enhanced dye adsorption capacity of the composite materials is attributed to the large specific surface area of NiO nanosheets. Moreover, the typical type-II p-n junction structure promoted the separation ability of photogenerated carriers and produced more &z.rad;O 2 − and &z.rad;OH − radicals. The prepared NiO/BVO showed much higher photocatalytic activity than pristine BVO and the optimal photocatalytic performance was obtained when the mass percentage of precursors Ni(NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O and BVO was 60%. The removal efficiency for RhB reached 92%, which was nine times than that of pure BVO. Typical NiO nanosheet coated BVO type-II composite heterostructure can effectively promote the space separation of charge and improve the photocatalytic performance.